London Beckons! But First.....

By the time I click this entry to Publish, we will be on our way to Schiphol for a flight to London. Yippee-yay-yay!

(And no, this is not a belated prank for April Fool's Day) (Yes, I made a LIST to ensure we brought everything POSSIBLE :) )

We're spending some five days in London and Surrey for the purpose of visiting my aunt and her family, some sightseeings, definitely shopping, maybe museum-hopping and anything else on offering at this time of the year. Or according to my hubby's quirky propensity to 'approximate time', we're spending a week there. How I wish we it will be, in TRUE numeric fashion, 7 days!

Since we only have a YEAR overseas, we have decided to make the most of it and travel this side of the world, barring monetary constraints, that is. Going mainly on this condition, we have to pick and choose where we REALLY want to go in a span of a year.

Despite the fact we bought the tickets early way back in January, the road to this much-awaited London trip is however rife with some problems. Problems pertaining to our Resident Permit ('RP').

After registering with and applying via the local municipality (i.e. Delft or 'LM') for the RP in early November 2006, we have to wait 3 months to receive a notification from the Immigration Office ('IO') that the RP has been approved by them.

It was during Valentine's Day that IO sent a letter saying that ONLY my husband's RP was approved while Sadia and mine were KIV until they received an official letter from LM confirming that I am indeed married to my husband and I am currently living with him in Delft. What the heck?! We were nonplussed because (a) we did submit a certified copy of our marriage certificate both with LM and IO and, (b) what kind of 'certifiable' proof is needed that I'm living with him? An envelope postmarked and stamped from a loved one in Malaysia?

Since a delay in complying to IO's requests would jeopardise the approval of Sadia's and my RP, my husband had to take a half-day off during his two-week intensive course to settle the matter with LM. We waited for almost an hour at the LM office before meeting a staff who printed the necessary details under a numbered format. Gosh! Any computer-literate person could do that. Using the same easy format, type the information IO needed and print it - but the only difference is that we DO NOT have the LM's letterhead/logo on our paper version. And for those measly two papers we had to shell out Euro8.40!!! A rip-off I tell ya!

My husband submitted the documents to his university's International Student Office ('ISO') which mediated and dealt with IO on his behalf. Of course, hubby informed the ISO about the clash of our RP's possible approval date with the London trip. One of its counsellors advised him the following: (1) wait until the end of March for the approval letter, (2) if by that cut-off date the letter has not arrived, she has slotted an appointment for us to see an IO officer on 30 March and (3) apply for a temporary visa to go out of The Netherlands costing Euro40 per person (that'd be Euro80 for Sadia and me)!!!

The subsequent letter from LM informing that they have received the 'actual RP' for my husband, arrived two weeks after the IO approval letter. My husband hemed and hawed whether he should wait for ours to arrive before picking up his RP sticker. In the end, he went and got the sticker pasted to his passport following weeks without any news from the IO front.

Then, after giving up hope for any sign of that coveted letter, hubby checked the mailbox on one fine Saturday morning and lo and behold, it arrived! IO had approved our RP.....BUT as normally practiced, we had to wait for a letter from LM summoning us to get the RP stickers.

The felicitious letter from IO was dated 15 March. Since it took another 2 weeks for hubby's LM letter to reach our doorsteps, we gathered the same principle would be at work here. 29 March came and went. No pick-up letter in sight. It's so unnerving!

Like it or not, we literally trekked our way to the IO building in Rijswick last Friday morning. I mean, as luck would have it, the online train schedule was out of whack the very same night we wanted to check schedule options. Since the appointment was fixed at 10 and Rijswick is one train stop after Delft, we told ourselves 9:15 would still give us ample time to arrive on time.

Sadly, there was no service that stopped at Rijswick station around that time as posted on the electronic board in Delft station! The next one will be at 9:35! We were cutting it close.....

We lost our orientation inside the VERY long train platform of Rijswick. We weren't sure if we should take the left or right exits. Suffice to say, we chose the exit farther away from the street where the IO was located. Egad!!!

By the time, we got our bearing back (thanks to a cafe employee's direction - a bit too chirpy that early in the morning - must be them caffeine ;) ) we practically ran to the IO building and made it to the waiting room 5 minutes to 10. Whew! We sweated profusely considering it was a chilly, misty morning.

Our number was up and we met with the 'orthondontically-superior' officer in charge, Mohan, whose colgate perfect-teeth smile glared down at me. After reporting to him, I led Sadia away to sit with the other kids at the kiddies table. In five minutes time, my husband gestured for me to come back.

Mohan divulged that we ACTUALY DO NOT NEED to APPLY for the TEMPORARY VISA. Huh??!!!

Originating from Malaysia, we are exempt from the ruling which requires for a temporary visa if our RP application has not yet been approved. That means, our multiple-entry temporary pass (first received after we registered with LM back in November) stamped inside our respective passports enables us to leave and enter The Netherlands without any further difficulty. Malaysia and some other countries listed on the official IO website fall under such category. After hearing the news, I laughed heartily. All these laborious efforts and for nothing? No need to pay anything - yahoo! But wasting our time?! The situation was so ironic and outlandish that I HAD to laugh.

He was sorry that we had to waste our time (morning nap), energy (sprinting) and money (train) to come there and be informed of this news. Yeah man, I still have some stubborn traces of morning gunk in my eyes when you nonchalantly spewed this bit of information. Nonetheless, we are ecstatic that we need not have to pay a cent and able to enjoy our London sojourn.

Hitherto, we have yet to received the LM letter (Friday, Saturday and Monday morning) and my gut feeling tells me we might only get it after we come back from London. Mohan did say the process takes 4-6 weeks!!! Maybe my husband's was a fluke.

Oh well, time to bask in the delights of good olde Britain. As they say it over there, Cheers and take care LOVE!